Corporate Accountability Research Articles

Implementing Board Rotation: A Potential Remedy for Nigeria’s “Boardroom Bubble”? Examining Benefits and Limitations

This article examines the potential and limitations of director rotation as a response to the "boardroom bubble" phenomenon in Nigerian companies. Gaining traction as a key corporate governance practice, director rotation seeks to mitigate stagnant decision-making within boards. The research explores how this approach can enhance corporate governance, accountability, and oversight. Our study suggests that while director rotation holds significant promise in reducing board entrenchment and strengthening corporate governance, it is not without drawbacks. These drawbacks include: Lack of independence among directors, reduced knowledge continuity on matters such as ESG (Environmental Social and Governance) factors or long-term strategies, difficulty finding suitable successors who share their predecessors’ characteristics (e.g., gender) as well as turmoil created when introducing inexperienced members onto Boards at times of crisis. Additionally, it does not address other important aspects of board diversity i.e., racial or ethnic background or educational achievements, which remain overlooked through this process alone. While acknowledging the benefits of rotation as a potential remedy for the “boardroom bubble,” this paper advocates for a nuanced approach to board rotation in Nigeria. Our research undertakes a comprehensive examination of Nigeria’s legal and regulatory landscape for implementing rotational boards, employing a rigorous doctrinal approach. The analysis delves into primary sources of data, such as the relevant Acts of the National Assembly and pertinent case law, while the secondary data are mainly books, journals, periodicals and web-based materials. In addition, the work proposes further research to explore specific regulatory frameworks and best practices tailored to the Nigerian context.

Ubuntu and African Restorative Justice Mechanisms as Building Blocks for an LGBTQI+ Inclusive Legal System: A Focus on the Right to Housing, Legal Recognition and Corporate Accountability for LGBTQI+ Inclusion

Ubuntu and African Restorative Justice Mechanisms as Building Blocks for an LGBTQI+ Inclusive Legal System: A Focus on the Right to Housing, Legal Recognition and Corporate Accountability for LGBTQI+ Inclusion

From Aspiration to Public Policy: Imprinting UNGP-Aligned Footprints of Corporate Responsibility and Accountability into the Shifting Sands of International Arbitration Practice

Abstract Endorsed more than a decade ago by the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) articulate the responsibilities of States and corporations for human rights. Since then, the issue of corporate responsibility for human rights, and also the environment, and how it ought to be recognized and enforced, has attracted increasing attention. In more recent years, States have promulgated a flurried storm of ESG regulations requiring disclosure of human rights or climate risks or mandating human rights due diligence across global supply chain networks, intensified their transition to greener economies, and continued to negotiate treaties infused with dreams of more sustainable investment and development. Against this backdrop, in October 2023, a UN Special Rapporteur presented a report that condemned the international arbitration system for prioritizing the protection of corporate property rights over the protection of international human rights and the environment. In tracing the development of a ‘soft law’ aspiration of corporate responsibility to inscriptions into ‘hard law’ international investment law treaty instruments and then considering how those inscriptions have been interpreted and applied by tribunals, this article finds that despite the nascent recognition of corporate responsibility for human rights and the environment, the enforcement of accountability for that responsibility in international arbitral practice is currently misaligned with the UNGPs and with other fundamental tenets of international law. This article subsequently explores the opportunity, and implications, for imprinting stronger footprints of responsibility and accountability in international arbitral practice, including through the potential recognition of new international public policy upholding corporate responsibility for human rights and the environment, and in doing so, highlights the need for greater cross-industry, multidisciplinary and multilateral dialogue on an issue of not only global significance, but with global impact.

Pengaruh Accounting Disruption Pada Kualitas Audit Dimediasi Beban Kerja Audit

This study aims to prove the effect of accounting disruption on audit quality with audit workload as an intervening variable at the Public Accounting Firm in Malang City. This research method uses quantitative research methods. This study uses primary data with data collection techniques through distributing questionnaires to 56 research samples using the convenience sampling method . The results of this study indicate that accounting disruption has a positive effect on audit quality directly and has a negative effect on audit workload. Audit workload has a negative effect on audit quality and there is an effect of accounting disruption on audit quality through mediation of audit workload. Changes in information technology in the field of corporate accounting make it easier for auditors to track audit evidence so as to improve audit quality.

Features of forming the enterprise’s balance according to international financial reporting standards

The formation of market relations and the aggravation of the economic situation in Ukraine require new approaches to enterprise management. The basis for decision-making on all issues of the company's activity is financial information necessary for a complete and comprehensive analysis of the state of its assets, liabilities and equity. The main source of information is financial reporting. The value of the balance sheet as the main reporting form cannot be overestimated, as it allows you to have an idea of the property and financial situation of the enterprise. The purpose of the paper is to research the peculiarities of the formation of the enterprise's balance sheet according to international standards. Also, the analysis of the formation of the balance sheet according to the National Accounting Regulations and in accordance with international standards. Therefore, the balance sheet is a system of indicators that characterizes the wide value ratio of the company's funds. The balance reflects the composition, placement, use and sources of funds of enterprises, organizations and budgetary institutions. The paper examines the peculiarities of forming a company's balance sheet in accordance with international standards. Specifically, it focuses on key aspects that define the process of preparing financial statements in accordance with international accounting standards. The authors explore the impact of international standards on balance sheet formation, including aspects such as asset and liability valuation, reporting on current assets, financial instruments, and more. It is noted that the adoption of international standards requires companies not only to comply with new rules but also to review and improve their internal processes and management systems. The study also highlights the advantages and challenges associated with the implementation of international standards in the practice of corporate accounting. The final recommendations of the paper emphasize the importance for companies to study and implement international standards in order to enhance their competitiveness and financial reporting transparency.

Investor Obligations: Transformative and Regressive Impacts of the Business and Human Rights Framework

Abstract The business and human rights (BHR) framework has regularly been considered the superior legal regime of corporate accountability for business-related human rights abuses, which must be both protected from and incorporated into investment treaties. However, investment treaties have surpassed the BHR framework in an important respect: certain investment treaties impose strict international legal obligations, including human rights-related obligations, directly on investors, thereby going beyond the normatively ambiguous corporate responsibility to respect. Investment treaty reform initiatives, including those seeking to align investment treaties with the BHR agenda, should, therefore, take care to avoid inadvertently undoing this advance towards investors’ legal accountability.

Corporate accountability for climate change and natural environment in Nigeria: Trends, limitations and future directions

One of the contemporary problems in the business and human rights debate is the obligations of business enterprises to reduce and redress the adverse effects of their operations on the environment. In Nigeria, despite the existence of various regulations and monitoring institutions, environmental pollution caused by the activities of business enterprises persists. The impact of climate change and environmental damage on sustainable development in Nigeria can no longer be ignored as our common future is becoming critically dependent on making the condition of the environment and human lives our top priorities. There is need for a stringent legal framework on business and human rights in Nigeria, accelerated implementation of the National Action plan on business and human right, a committed implementation of existing regulations on environmental protection, strict enforcement of laws and proper awareness that will ensure responsible business practices by business enterprises in all key sectors in Nigeria. This study examines the concept of corporate accountability in Nigeria. It identifies the inadequacies of existing national laws on corporate accountability for environmental protection, and proffer solutions to these gaps.

The Role of Civil Society in Promoting Corporate Accountability for International Crimes

The Role of Civil Society in Promoting Corporate Accountability for International Crimes

Talisman Energy and the Second Sudanese Civil War

Holding corporations accountable for complicity in international crimes is especially difficult, due to lacking international legal guidelines and the fact that corporations do not become complicit for the same reasons that perpetrators commit crimes. The oil company Talisman Energy has been praised for its 2003 divestment from Sudan, but the corporation was never held accountable for its involvement in the second Sudanese civil war and victims were not compensated. This paper analyzes the Talisman Energy case through the lens of the International Commission of Jurists’ framework for corporate complicity, and illustrates the advantages of an adaptable knowledge and foresight threshold complemented by measures of causality and proximity. Adopting a holistic framework like this in legal provisions may prevent wrongful acquittals in the future and contribute to transitional justice for the victims of international crimes. While there is more work to do to design the appropriate legal provisions, this exploratory study recommends three fields of action: a broader awareness of the corporate accountability gap; a consideration of corporate accountability in transitional justice programs; and further research on the overlap between corporate accountability and transitional justice.

The Dark Side of Robotic Process Automation (RPA): Understanding Risks and Challenges with RPA

SYNOPSIS Auditors and corporate accountants are rapidly adopting robotic process automation (RPA) to assist with accounting tasks. The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of the risks and challenges associated with RPA. This is particularly important given most existing reports focus on the benefits of using RPA. We interview multiple professionals to ascertain challenges, drawbacks, or pitfalls of using RPA. We identify five key challenges related to RPA usage: (1) RPA is often used as a quick-fix band-aid instead of fixing core system issues, (2) RPA can cause serious control and security issues, (3) the true cost of RPA is often misunderstood and understated, (4) RPA governance is complicated and challenging, and (5) RPA usage can lead to a loss of process knowledge. Raising these issues should allow practitioners to make more informed decisions regarding RPA implementations and help inform them regarding the problematic areas that require better governance.

(Re)imagining purpose: A framework for sustainable nanotechnology innovation

To fully understand and predict the impact of nanotechnologies, a truly multidisciplinary approach is required. However, the practicalities relating to how innovation, commercialisation, risk assessment, informatics, and governance in nanotechnology should intersect remain somewhat of a black box. To begin to shed light on this intersection, we identify a need to place ‘purpose’ at the heart of the nanotechnology innovation ecosystem. There is a growing appetite for responsible, sustainable, and purposeful innovation from business, financiers, regulators, consumers, and other stakeholders – an appetite that we foresee will permeate all spheres of commercialisation, including that of nanotechnology. Ultimately, nanotechnologies will only have the ability to sustainably address the global challenges of the 21st century if they are developed and implemented with purpose, and in full consideration of their social and environmental impacts. We (re)define purpose as it relates to sustainable nanotechnology innovation, in an effort to create a more-broadly shared language that can bridge the diverse stakeholder needs and perspectives that are required to address these challenges. To enable innovation, standardisation, promote interdisciplinarity, increase transparency, and enhance regulatory and corporate accountability, we propose a four stage, principles-based framework for purposeful nanotechnology development. This framework offers a practical way forward for nanotechnology innovation, shedding light on how nano-impact can be approached by multidisciplinary teams and describing how interrelated systems and stakeholders can interact successfully to achieve shared goals.

Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence

Ever since the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) be-gan to take off in the 1970s, multinational corporations (MNCs) and international organizations have attempted to implement a variety of voluntary initiatives to detect and prevent human rights and environ-mental abuses within corporate supply chains. Despite these voluntary initiatives, however, human rights violations and environmental dam-age have continued to occur frequently within the supply chains of MNCs, leading to increased calls for binding, “hard law” remedies. The adoption of the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in 2011 catalyzed efforts to adopt domestic mandatory human rights due diligence (mHRDD) laws, and since 2017, a growing number of nations have passed more comprehensive human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) laws that recognize the connection between human rights and the environment. The most ambitious HREDD proposal thus far is the European Union’s proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D), which, when enacted, will impose mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence requirements on corporations that conduct business in the European Union. This Note assesses the feasibility and desirability of adopting domes-tic HREDD legislation in the United States based on the framework provided by the EU’s proposed CS3D. The predominant reliance in the U.S. on voluntary CSR initiatives and limited disclosure regulations is insufficient to prevent human rights and environmental abuses in the supply chains of US-based MNCs. This Note argues that the proposed CS3D provides a promising model for how Congress could take strong-er action in this area. Although it would not completely prevent adverse impacts and could be initially challenging to implement because of the ambiguity surrounding its scope, comprehensive federal HREDD legislation based on the CS3D framework would be a significant step towards filling in the gaps in U.S. corporate accountability.

A longitudinal examination of anti-corruption disclosure in the banking sector of a least-developed economy: does board composition make a difference?

PurposeThis study focuses on anti-corruption disclosure (ACD) as a critical indicator of a bank’s commitment to combat corruption. It seeks to measure the level of ACD in banking companies. Emphasizing the pivotal role of board directors in ensuring corporate accountability and transparency, the study further explores the connection between board composition and ACD.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts automated content analysis (using keyword search) to measure the level of ACD in the annual reports of listed banks in Bangladesh. Drawing upon agency theory and resource-dependence theory, the study proposes that the collective monitoring and resources facilitated by a well-structured board (size, gender diversity and independence) significantly influence a bank’s commitment to combat corruption. The paper employs linear regression to examine the hypotheses. The reliability of the findings is further validated through the application of the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and Quantile Regression.FindingsThe results indicate a steady rise in ACD over the sample period (2014–2022). The analysis establishes that larger board sizes and a greater presence of female directors are positively associated with ACD. Notably, the study identifies a critical mass of at least three female directors for a significant positive relationship between gender diversity on the board and ACD. However, no significant relationship is observed between board independence and ACD.Practical implicationsThe study sheds light on the current state of ACD within the banking companies of a least-developed country. The findings carry significant implications for regulators to gauge banks' dedication to anti-corruption efforts and make informed decisions on issuing guidance for enhanced ACD. These findings can also assist regulators in assessing the implications of board composition and formulating guidelines within the corporate governance code.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on ACD in the context of a least-developed economy. Notably, the study fills a research gap by exploring ACD in the banking industry. A key aspect of this study is its exploration of the determinants of ACD, explicitly emphasizing how board composition is likely to influence ACD.

Profitability and Market Value Effect on Carbon Emission Disclosures: The Moderating Role of Environmental Performance

Climate change is an issue that is of concern to the global public and scientific community. There is a close relationship between climate change and carbon emissions, which are the primary cause of global warming. Reporting on carbon emissions is essential for corporate accountability to stakeholders when evaluating a company's financial and non-financial performance. Good management of carbon emissions will enhance the company's reputation. This study analyses the impact of company profitability and market value on the disclosure of carbon emissions, with environmental performance serving as a moderating variable in the context of Indonesian public companies. This study concludes that: (1) There is no significant impact on profitability, as measured by Return on Assets, on Carbon Emission Disclosure; (2) The study finds that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between market value, measured by Tobin's Q, and the level of carbon emission disclosure. This relationship is significant at a 5% significance level; (3) The moderating effect of environmental performance on the relationship between profitability, as measured by return on assets, and carbon emission disclosure is found to be insignificant; (4) The significance level of 10% indicates that the relationship between environmental performance, as a measure of a company's environmental practices, and market value, as represented by Tobin's Q, is strengthened concerning the disclosure of carbon emissions. This research can contribute to developing accounting knowledge to close gaps in the body of knowledge regarding the disclosure of carbon emissions in developing nations, particularly Indonesia.

Restorative Justice in Corporate Dispute Resolution as Business Actor in Indonesia

Indonesian limited liability company (Perseroan Terbatas or "PT") is a preferable entity selected by business actors in conducting activities. In this context, the characteristics of PT grant persona standi in judicio, as a legal subject capable of initiating and defending lawsuits in civil and criminal courts under Law No. 40 of 2007. Therefore, this article aimed to discuss the implementation of corporate accountability in the context of PT, and the potential for restorative justice in resolving disputes, relying on secondary sources such as theories, norms, and legal principles. The results show that 1) the application of restorative justice is consistent with the corporate entity's existence to maintain business continuity while upholding accountability as a legal subject, 2) Restorative Justice, centered on fundamental elements of encounter, repair, and transform, represents an effort towards the well-being and integrity of victims, perpetrators, and society. The method enhances legal certainty and protection for parties in PT-related business activities.

Public Financial Reporting Practices, Regulations and Accountability of State-Owned Corporations in Kenya

Public Financial Reporting Practices, Regulations and Accountability of State-Owned Corporations in Kenya

Forecasting Indian Trade Trends through LSTM- based Predictive Modeling

The efficacy of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural networks and attention-based models in predicting next-day closing prices of the MSFT 500index is meticulously examined. A comprehensive suite of nine carefully chosen predictors spanning fundamental market data, macroeconomic indicators, and technical metrics is amalgamated, fostering a holistic comprehension of market behavior. Through rigorous analysis, the research evaluates single-layer and multilayer LSTM architectures alongside attention- based LSTM variants, juxtaposed against traditional ARIMA models. Surprisingly, the single-layer LSTM consistently outperforms its multilayer counterpart, demonstrating superior accuracy and model fit. The integration of corporate accounting statistics augments predictive capabilities, enriching the models' efficacy. Notably, attention-based LSTM models, particularly the Attention-LSTM variant, exhibit markedly lower prediction errors and higherreturns in trading strategies compared to other methodologies. However, the heightened complexity of stacked-LSTM structures fails to surpass the predictive acumen of simpler LSTM architectures.This inquiry underscores the paramount importance of leveraging advanced AI techniques and comprehensive datasets in navigating the intricate nuances of modern financialmarkets, offering invaluable insights for both researchers and practitioners engaged in stock priceforecasting endeavors.

‘Take Back Control’: The implications of Brexit uncertainty on investor perception of ESG reputational events

AbstractThis study examines the impact of Brexit on investor reactions to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) events in UK companies. Post‐Brexit, investors show reduced sensitivity to ESG incidents, suggesting relaxed corporate accountability for ESG disasters. We observe varied investor responses to different ESG events, with most having less financial influence after Brexit. This research informs regulators, stakeholders and policymakers in the post‐Brexit era, emphasising the need for strong ESG regulations and communication in influencing investor behaviour. It contributes to understanding the relationship between regulatory changes, corporate reputation and investor reactions post‐Brexit.

Content Analysis of Integrated Reporting in Malaysia

The aim of integrated reporting is to provide a holistic view of an organization’s performance and value creation. This comprehensive reporting framework contains financial, economic, environmental, social, and governance aspects. In Malaysia, the adoption of integrated reporting shows the organization’s involvement in promoting accountability and transparency in corporate reporting. By using the Malaysian top 100 publicly listed companies (PLCs), this study gauges the practices of integrated reporting disclosure, explicitly investigating the integration of the content elements recommended by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) Framework. The examination of the integrated reports of the sample of Malaysian PLCs is done via a content analysis approach. Sampling from 2018 – 2020 data, this study is beneficial to contribute to the current body of literature on integrated reporting by shedding light on the ongoing practices of PLCs in Malaysia. This study has implications not only in advancing knowledge but also increases reporting practices within business and economics environments. Additionally, it adds valuable insights to the ongoing discussions surrounding corporate transparency and accountability. Furthermore, the study will present recommendations for enhancing the content of integrated reports, ultimately strengthening the reliability and utility of the disclosed information. These recommendations can be used by regulators, standard-setting bodies, and companies to further develop and refine integrated reporting practices in Malaysia.

Evaluating Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Violations: The (Uncertain) Efficacy of Administrative Sanctions under the EU Sustainability Due Diligence Directive

Evaluating Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Violations: The (Uncertain) Efficacy of Administrative Sanctions under the EU Sustainability Due Diligence Directive